Charter Oak fallout vote expected at District 150 meeting

Sunday

Jan 26, 2014 at 8:39 PM

Pam Adams Journal Star education reporter @padamspam

PEORIA — Peoria School District 150 board members are scheduled to vote on controversies past and present during a regular board meeting Monday that has been moved from district administrative offices to Von Steuben Middle School for the third time in a row in anticipation of a large turnout of supporters for Charter Oak Principal John Wetterauer.

Charter Oak parents, teachers, retired teachers, retired administrators and others have packed the last two School Board meetings urging the board to reinstate Wetterauer, who has been on paid administrative leave since December after a district investigation reported irregularities in how teachers administered standardized tests to special education students at the school over a three-year period.

Though it is not clear if or what decision the board will make about Wetterauer's future, board members are scheduled to vote on resolutions to authorize issuing a notice of remedial warning to two tenured teachers, presumably the two Charter Oak special education teachers who administered the tests.

The district's investigation report, submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education, alleges Charter Oak staff violated testing protocols for the Illinois Standards Achievement Test by coaching students to get the right answers in a variety of ways, including erasing wrong answers. Wetterauer failed to provide district-required training to teachers on administering the tests, according to the district's investigation.

At its Jan. 13 meeting, board members delayed action on possible discipline of Wetterauer until he had a chance to respond to the allegations.

Neither Wetterauer or his attorney, Nile Williamson, has replied to the board's offer, other than through a formal response from Williamson to District 150 attorney Michelle Todd on Jan. 16. Through his attorney, Wetterauer denied knowledge or involvement in testing misconduct. Williamson has also questioned the validity of the district's investigation.

According to a statement from District 150, Wetterauer and his attorney, Williamson, could not meet with the board in a closed special meeting on Jan. 23 because Williamson had a scheduling conflict. As of last week, the two had not responded to the board's second offer to meet Jan. 27, before the regular board meeting.

The state board can conduct its own investigation, which could result in revoking or suspending an educator's certification.

The board is scheduled to approve an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Peoria that would allow the city to aid the district in selling six properties along Prospect Road.

District 150's ownership of the strip of residential properties — purchased for almost $1 million in 2006 when a previous administration planned to build a school next to Glen Oak Park — became a symbol of the failed plan and community opposition to it.

The properties are at 2138, 2142, 2144, 2206, 2208, and 2212 N. Prospect.

The board will also vote on a recommendation to reappoint State Rep. Dave Leitch, R-Peoria, to a five-year term as District 150's representative commissioner on the Public Building Commission.

Pam Adams can be reached at 686-3245 or padams@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @padamspam.